


Tripping Over My Words

by TheSpaminator



Series: Femslash Soulmate prompt AU [5]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, Fluff, Gayness ensues, Prompt Fic, Red String of Fate, SO FLUFFY, Soulmates, the string keeps tripping korra, useless queers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-10
Updated: 2018-01-10
Packaged: 2019-03-03 01:46:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13330875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSpaminator/pseuds/TheSpaminator
Summary: Part five of the soulmate prompt AU out of my tumblr ask box.- soulmates via red string of fateFind me on the internet:Twitter,Tumblr





	Tripping Over My Words

**Author's Note:**

> Fifth instalment in this series, and the first for Korrasami.
> 
> This one was really fun to write, I definitely enjoyed it. I hope you guys do too!
> 
> Enjoy. =]

“ _Korra, get back here!”_

 

The girl in question grumbled at the words shouted in her direction by her mother. Couldn’t the woman see she was on a mission? How could she be bothered to do her homework when the mysterious red string wrapped around her pinky had suddenly decided to muck her up? It’d never done that before, only existing in her periphery until now. But the girl had been twiddling her pencil in her hand as she tried to work out a difficult equation for her math class when she was suddenly unable to twirl it anymore.

 

When Korra glanced at her hand, she noticed that it was all bungled up with the red string. Blue eyes widen and she yelped in shock as she dropped her pencil. Startled eyes just stared at the pencil on the floor, wrapped in red string for a few moments.

 

Which is what led to her hunt and her mother’s ire as she grabbed her jacket and ran out of the house, frantically following the thread.

 

See, this wasn’t something that happened as far as Korra knew. You had your string, it was always there. Except it would simply sit limp, taunting you from the corner of your eye as you lived your life, constantly on alert for the possibility of finding your destined on the other end. It wasn’t unheard of for one person to have more than one string, that Korra could have dealt with. But the string having a life of it’s own?! She didn’t have the first clue how to react to that. And why did it seem much looser now, like it had extra length it hadn’t had before?

 

The teenager was slightly leant over, shoulders hunched with purpose solid in her gait as she followed the stupid string.

 

It was a shame she wouldn’t get any further in her quest that day as just as she got to the end of their block, her father drew up behind her and lifted her bodily with his massive hands under her arms.

 

He walked back to their house carrying an impudent Korra wearing an annoyed pout. The man didn’t say a word, only sighed when his daughter tried to cross her arms in order to show her displeasure only to not be able to reach her own elbows due to her less than graceful state.

 

***

 

When the girl got to school on Monday morning she immediately sought out her favourite teacher for answers.

 

“Ms Beifong! Hey!” Korra slammed into a desk in the steel haired woman’s class, not even noticing the long suffering sigh which accompanied her arrival.

 

The woman closed her eyes and took in a long, steadying breath before she looked at Korra. “Ms Maniitok.”

 

“Yeah, kay. So. What do you know about our strings?” The teenager leaned on the desk with her eyes wide and intense, ready to soak in knowledge. Of course, she was only good at that when she was interested in whatever it was in the first place. She wasn’t the best student in the world, but she did try.

 

      Beifong looked to the ceiling as though she’d find an answer for her quandary written in the discoloured ceiling tiles. Finding none, the older woman looked back at her student. “We all have at least one string. At the other end is our ‘soulmate’ as they say.” She sniffed derisively at the ‘S’ word. “When we’re near the other end of a string, we feel a faint tug.”

 

Expectant eyes continued to stare following her explanation. Korra looked as though she was ready to demand more answers however the bell went off, cutting the student off and the teacher expelled a relieved breath. “That’s the bell Ms Maniitok. Get to your next class.”

 

She looked as though she was prepared to argue the point, of course. That girl was nothing if not stubborn.

 

“Ms Maniitok. I believe your next class is gym, better get there to avoid being stuck with the broken equipment.” The grey haired woman pulled her ace out of the hole, watching as Korra jumped to her feet eagerly and ran out of the room towards the gymnasium with a shouted _thanks teach!_ over her shoulder.

 

Ms Beifong grumbled under her breath, straightening her desk in perfect precision as her students filed in for her class. Each teacher had a student they would always refer to as _that_ student. She had zero doubts that Korra was hers.

 

***

 

Normally, Korra would be in her element. Gym wasn’t just her favourite class, it was her best. She was a natural athlete, her body adapting and developing to suit what any activity required of her almost laughably easily. Not once had she had to train excessively to develop her skills, though she still did. Admittedly, she was a bit of a gym rat already at the age of 17.

 

So when instead of seamless movements and impressive feats of skill, all encompassing clumsiness took over her.... she was annoyed to say the least. Though she did her best to hide her quick temper, it was quite apparent to anyone who looked. Patience wasn’t a virtue she possessed.

 

“Jeez Kor, what’s up with you today?” Korra’s best friend Bolin sounded concerned, his brows stitched in an altogether too serious manner.

 

The girl looked around quickly, making sure no one was in hearing distance. “It’s my stupid string Bolin, I can’t-”

 

Panicked eyes in a frantic face looked at Korra and she was cut off when the boy grabbed her upper arms, effectively lifting her off the ground so they could be face to face. “ _WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOUR STRING? IS IT GONE? DID IT BREAK? WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?!”_ His excitement was driven home when he shook his best friend slightly in his grip.

 

“ _Pipe down Bo! Spirits._ ” She seethed at the boy, encouraging a rueful expression to take over his eager features. “And for Raava’s sake, put me _down._ ” Honestly, she wasn’t sure why the people in her life insisted on bodily picking her up. Surely it couldn’t be because she was impulsive, acted before she thought, or got herself into trouble more often than any teenager had a right to. Of course not, that would be ridiculous.

 

The boy quickly dropped her to her feet, sweeping his heavy hands over her shoulders to fix the rumples he had caused in her shirt. Her knees buckled slightly under the accidental strength.

 

Korra sighed. “I’m messed up because of my string Bo. It’s started to interfere with _everything!_ ” Her eyes were manic as her hands gesticulated wildly, illustrating her point. “It wrapped itself around my pencil when doing my homework last night, and just now in class it kept _tripping me_ Bo.” She stepped back and threw her hands in the air, frustrated beyond belief.

 

Bolin squinted his eyes and crossed his arms, one of his hands raising to stroke at his chin which still hadn’t grown anything more than peach fuzz. “Hmmmm, this is a mystery indeed. Have you tried to follow it again recently? Like to find what’s doing it?” His words got more passionate as he spoke, eventually his face was lowered and staring intently at Korra as though if he willed it enough, he’d be able to see her string too.

 

The girl flicked his forehead and he withdrew with a soft _ow_ while she looked down at the string on the floor with a scowl.

 

Without another word, she took off at a brisk pace, arms pumping as she followed the infernal red string. Bolin was hot on her heels, having scrambled momentarily to catch up to her.

 

***

 

Asami was seated in the technical lab of her new school, eyes narrowed in concentration as she inspected the red string under an enormous magnifying glass. One slender hand reached out and without looking, jotted down a few new notes about the way the thread was woven. The individual strings were unbelievably small, corded together and so tight to each other that she wasn’t sure she’d be able to separate even one to analyze further.

 

The raven haired girl pulled back from the magnifying glass, reaching across the counter she sat behind to grab her laptop.

 

“ _You!_ ”

 

With a jump, Asami looked towards the doorway to see a stocky, muscular girl with an impressive frown on her strong facial features. A bulky, nervous boy flitted about behind her before waving and running away. The darker skinned girl huffed, displacing some of her hair in the process before she stooped and picked up the red string between them. She gathered it in her unadorned hands until she stood before the pale girl, whereupon she dropped it unceremoniously on the counter next to them.

 

Asami’s mouth gaped, looking from the heap of red beside her to the girl who was quite obviously attached to the other end of it. When she looked up to meet the clear blue eyes, her sheepish expression momentarily mollified the brunette.

 

Shaking her head, the brunette tried to bring her earlier confrontational attitude back. She was slightly annoyed that she couldn’t summon all of her ire, the beautiful face and calm exterior before her serving to soothe her fiery temper.

 

Korra cleared her throat. “Right. Care to explain to me why this damn string has been tripping me and wrapping around me and generally just making me look like a clumsy fool for the last two days?” She raised her chin and crossed her arms triumphantly, having managed to at least still address the reason she was there. Beyond, you know. Finding her soulmate. She’d deal with that after.

 

The raven haired girl chuckled softly, a hand nervously running through her long tresses. Delicately coughing, she addressed the brunette for the first time. “Yes. Well. I’ve been testing the string’s properties. I wanted to study it to see if it could be used in any other sort of application.” Green eyes flicked to meet blue, and she bit her rosy bottom lip nervously. “Also, it’s really nice to finally meet you.”

 

She smiled brilliantly at Korra, momentarily stunning the athlete. “Uh, yeah. Me too. I mean, you too.” A capable hand raised and nervously rubbed the back of the girl’s neck.”Um, okay.” She frowned again. “But why was the string so much longer on my end than usual? It’s never been that long before, it kept getting in the way.”

 

Asami brightened. “Oh! Yeah, I found a way to lengthen it. Turns out, if you untie it from your finger, the end just keeps getting longer instead of the loop pulling out. So when you tighten it again, it’s that much longer.” Her proud smile dimmed slightly at the incredulous expression on the brunette’s face.

 

Hands flailed momentarily. “ _You tried to untie it?! Why??? You would have deprived me of my soulmate?_ ” Korra faltered. “Or you know, you. You would have deprived me of you. Why?!” She threw her hands in the air before settling them on her sturdy hips.

 

The green eyed girl shrugged. “I wasn’t going to let go of the end. I wanted to see what would happen, then I was going to retie it.”

 

“We’re gonna talk about this more later. Right now I’m going to introduce myself because I just realized I’ve been standing here grilling you instead of being excited because y’know. Soulmates. What a meet cute, huh?” Korra smiled crookedly, head tilted as she cocked one of her hips and leaned against the counter.

 

“It will certainly be one hell of a story to tell. Soooo.... are you going to introduce yourself then?” Amusement tinged her words, and she giggled when she watched Korra stutter for a second.

 

“Right! Yeah. I’m Korra.” Shaking some hair out of her face, Korra reached a hand out.

 

Asami grinned. “Well, Korra. You sure leave one hell of a first impression.” When she clasped Korra’s hand, the athletic girl blushed. “Um, right. My name is Asami.”

 

“Asami.” The brunette repeated her name, seemingly unable to find any other words. Their hands were still clasped, each forgetting to move.

 

Korra chuckled, stepping closer and looking down at the hand in hers. She turned it this way and that, noticing that while in form it was paler and more delicate than her own, it was no stranger to hard work. The juxtaposition appealed to her. She thumbed the red string wrapped around Asami’s own thumb, the thread firmly in place.

 

She looked up to see green eyes soft, studying her. She cleared her throat again and reluctantly released her. “So, how long have you gone here? I don’t remember seeing you before.” Crooked grin secure on an expressive face, Korra kept her place standing before Asami, perhaps closer than proper during a school day.

 

The green eyed girl blushed, tucking a strand of black hair behind her ear. “I just transferred in.”

 

Matching smiles lit up their faces. Asami entirely forgot about her research. And Korra dismissed any ill will she felt when searching for the girl, finding that the person at the end of her journey had been worth a few falls.

 

She was sure it wouldn’t be the last or only kind of fall she’d have in relation to Asami. They were soulmates after all.

**Author's Note:**

> I've gotten all the prompts I need for the beginning of this challenge but I am hoping to continue after the first week! Please head over to my [tumblr ask box](http://thespaminator.tumblr.com/ask) and leave me a soulmate AU prompt! I'll write for supercorp, supercanarycorp (if you've never read this ot3, might I suggest [this series](http://archiveofourown.org/series/611377) by [this author](http://archiveofourown.org/users/tekaitek/pseuds/tekaitek)), superwondercorp, superreigncorp, clexa, hollstein, wayhaught, bumbleby, joniss, trimberly, sanvers, bechloe, skimmons, and of course, korrasami.
> 
> I really hope you guys enjoyed this, please leave me a comment and let me know what your favourite part was. =]
> 
> Love you my little pterodactyls,  
> Almighty Mama Dinosaur (aka Sam)


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